1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to multimedia creation and more specifically, to a system and method for creating visual presentations based on a text script.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventional multimedia creation, which involves manipulating video and audio clips, has primarily used video production equipment based on television production techniques. Basic video production techniques are described in the “Television Production Handbook,” Zettl, 1997 Wadsworth Publishing Company, which is incorporated herein by reference. The equipment and techniques generally use a similar paradigm to sequence events. The paradigm is a timeline where events, which include but are not limited to, effects, titles, graphics and media clips, are ordered in linear fashion along a time scale marked by seconds and or frames. On the timelines, events are ordered and executed depending on their relationship to said time scale based on the associated seconds and frames.
This approach allows events to be executed at a given pre-specified time. While suitable for orchestrating predictable presentations or editing presentations after the fact, this approach is poor for live presentations or those which are recorded live. In particular, presentations involving a live human speaker who by nature can frequently vary his or her pace of speaking are not well-served by conventional approaches. Previously, addressing these shortcomings involved having a separate operator or director trigger media events manually to keep the media events synchronized with the variable pace inherent in a live presentation of spoken material. This is the process by which live television newscasts are produced. For example, a professional director controls equipment and coordinates with other equipment operators in the sequencing and insertion of real-time media events into the television program as it happens. Recent improvements in professional newscast creation provide for eliminating additional operators, allowing the director to remotely control and trigger media events from a variety of separate production devices.
With the advent of low-cost webcams and the Internet many live multimedia presentations are now created on a personal computer by a single individual and transmitted over the Internet for business and or educational purposes. In this case all creation, playback, recording and transmitting functions are integrated in one low-cost device, the personal computer. Hence it is not feasible, due to space and economic factors, to have a separate director coordinate and sequence the real-time insertion of media events on behalf of the user appearing in the presentation. The predetermined timeline approach is not effective in such cases. Although the user can create a timeline in advance, the presentation itself is delivered and created in real-time and thus the pacing is variable due to the participation of a live human speaker. The sole user is presently left with the choice of doing without media events in their live presentation, securing the services of a separate director, or simultaneously filling the roles of presenter and director during the presentation. While the latter case is optimal, it presently requires the user to speak and while speaking simultaneously trigger the insertion of media events into the presentation at the appropriate times. Performing these tasks correctly and reliably while simultaneously delivering an effective verbal presentation is difficult for most users and not possible for many.
Therefore, a new system and method are needed to address the above problems.